Synopsis

The film “Free all around” refers to the limits that exist in the meaning of the word “freedom”.

The plot develops as two separate stories that unfold parallel to each other. At a certain moment – at the climax of the film – the two stories cross. At that moment the protagonists of each story seem unable to continue their story and find an acceptable ending. At this moment some sort of an “osmosis” happens and the protagonists of each story help the protagonists of the other story to find their desired ending in their story.

The first story – the real one – refers to a woman, Sissy, who tries to cope with all sorts of problems. She owes money, her husband is in jail and she doesn’t know why he is there, and her brother Harry asks her to finance his film about the first Greek rocket to space.

The second story – the imaginary one – is Harry’s space film that is shown visualized on screen.

After many efforts to solve her problems Sissy gets tired. She refuses to deal with those problems that are not entirely hers. So, she decides to stop.
Harry’s movie reaches to a climax and he seems unable to find an acceptable ending.

At this moment the roles of the two protagonists switch places. Sissy helps Harry to find the ending of his story and help him feel free. Harry also helps Sissy to find the solution in her own dead-ends and finally to feel free.

For the purpose of materialization of the movie, some of the participating companies, as well as some of the rest of the collaborators in the production, - such as the lead actors, guest stars, crew members etc - have accepted to receive a certain percentage of the net profits generated by the exploitation of the movie. The rest agreed to participate for free as they considered their involvement profitable for their own professional exposure and experience.

Total amount money spent for the production of the film was a little less than 5,000 Euros.

Director’s note

As citizens of this world, we are now living in a period of great instability and an intense state of change. We are all experiencing, in a more or less painful way, the results of a society whose values of the past have been betrayed.

As individuals or as nations, we are headed for a dangerous downfall. The upcoming collapse is visible and perhaps inevitable.

At this time in our history, especially as regards Europeans and specifically the Greeks, with our film “Free all around,” our intention is as follows:

1. To depict our reflections of the present social situation, and
2. To present the idea that salvation starts from restructuring of our own conscience, a reframing of our value system, and setting clear limits in many of our decisions.

In order to more efficiently express our goals, we have chosen a somewhat surrealistic and satyrical narrative style. Through this style we believe that our messages may be more comprehensible and accepted by the broader audience. Following audience tests, the two interwoven stories of the film have proven to be easily understood by audiences of broad educational differences.

The cinematic approach, given the limitation of the extremely low budget of the film, was such that our most important need was to cover the two stories of the film in a visually persuasive way. So, we have chosen a point of view which traverses the real, the surreal, the ridiculous and the exaggerated.

Special attention was given to the climax point in which the two stories cross one another and find their own ending - a smooth “landing” and a positive approach to the future.